Sunday, January 21, 2007

I'm not usually one to butt in in other countries politics, but I think when it comes to the president of the United States we all need to have an opinion, as it affects much of the world's dynamics. I'd like to welcome Mrs. Clinton, or Hillary, to her friends, to the race and wish her good luck.

Meanwhile, what's been happening in Portugal? Everyone's talking about the abortion referendum we're having next month. The government has suggested the change of the law that penalizes women who make illegal abortions in illegal clinics - a penalty of up to 3 years in prison is in the current law, though it is rarely applied. So now they want to stop penalizing abortions until 10 weeks of pregnancy and create conditions so the women can have legal abortions in decent health-care facilities, that will prevent them getting nasty infections and so on.The debate between yes and no is a reflection of the left-right politic parties: the left defending the yes and the right the no, of course. The Catholic church is a major influence on a significant part of the population and use their arguments such as 'abortion is just like death penalty', 'we should defend life above all', etc...and some groups are sending leaflets of Our Lady of Fátima to people's homes saying that it's been 90 years since the apparition of Fátima and she would not like it if we liberalized the abortion. Other groups think they're above the rest and form groups saying: "we are doctors so we defend NO" or "we are doctors so we defend YES" - it's ridiculous. But, yes, doctors in Portugal think they're better than the rest of the population, go figure!So far nothing has been surprising at all, but the level of debate will rise and things will get dirty soon, I'm sure. An important fact is that there was already a referendum such as this about 8 years ago and the NO won (the YES-people were too confident in the victory so they forgot to vote lol).Well, in February I'll keep you posted on the results.

11 comments:

I remember that last referendum...it was, as you said, very heated, and I remember also being shocked at the result (and it wasn't even very close, was it? Here my memory gets a bit fuzzy.) I hope the liberalization happens, if for no other reason than that if legal abortions are not available, women will seek illegal ones, and I can't see any way at all in which this is better. That fits in pretty well with my views on US politics as well, of course.

2004, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with guidance to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, stated succinctly, emphatically and unambiguously as follows: June, 2004 "Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia." http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1125Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick: More Concerned with 'Comfort' than Christ?, Catholic Online, 7/11/2004

Kim: I can't find the exact percentage of the results but the abstention was so high, they couldn't take the results seriously, that's why we're doing it again. (Of course, I couldn't vote back then...) I think that's the main reason to vote "yes" - women will keep doing abortions whether it' considered a crime or not, the least the State can do is to give them decent conditions.

Sophie: And that link between the two of them is so evident right now...grrr

Cathy: I was really gutted I couldn't vote there when Bush won, both times. I've come to accept the fact that it's not my responsability ;)

Novel Nymph: I'll definitely be going, no one can stop me!! I'll post one of his photographs soon, I hope that's allowed. Blogging is getting dangerous nowadays.

Dudley Sharp: Thanks for your comment and for that information. I have to say I do not agree in any way that it 'may be permissible' to resort to 'capital punishment'. But that's my opinion and I respect that the Church has one too.

so why are just the women penalized for having abortions... and not the illegal clinics???? did i miss something???

hmm. Hillary Clinton...possibly ... obama...maybe... usually i feel like it is a choice between 2 evils when election day comes... who can you trust??? i think the government offices are powerful and after awhile ruin even the most sincere (okay, so i probably offended someone by saying that!) oh well!i just know that I do not want the draft... i have 2 sons that i do not want in iraq... or anywhere else)

Eric: Thanks for clearing that out, I will be careful with them all around the world now ;)

Holychaos: The clinics and the staff involved were also punished by law. It's also a big illgela business and that's also worrying. It's a whole mess.I know that when the elections are near all politicians look the same, it's hard to trust them...But it's still a long road until then.